Musical reprises movie 'The Bodyguard' that starred Whitney Houston

“I knew the enormous shoes I’d have to fill, with enormous expectations going in,” said Cox, who co-stars in that national stage tour with Judson Mills. “But I’ve never let it be daunting.”

The tour, launched in December, will open Tuesday in Columbus.

Houston made her film debut in 1992 as a famous singer-actress opposite Kevin Costner, who played a former Secret Service agent hired to protect her from an unknown stalker. The romantic thriller became the second-highest-grossing movie worldwide that year.

“There’s a reason the film was a hit, and it wasn’t Kevin Costner,” Dinelaris said. “Whitney was an absolute phenomenon ... transcendent. We haven’t seen her likes since.”

The movie yielded a record-breaking soundtrack, with more than 45 million copies sold worldwide.

Houston’s biggest hit was “I Will Always Love You,” the Grammy-winning record of the year.

For the musical, Dinelaris kept six signature songs (including “I Have Nothing,” “I’m Every Woman” and “Queen of the Night”) and added 10 others from Houston’s catalog (including “Greatest Love of All” and “One Moment in Time”) to advance the updated story, refocused on Houston’s character, Rachel Marron.

Cox, meanwhile, worked to make Houston’s hits her own.

“I’m interpreting her songs in my own way,” said Cox, 42. “The key is to capture Whitney’s essence, her grace and vocal stylings.”

Cox’s history with Houston helped.

The Canadian artist with six albums and 12 No. 1 hits on Billboard’s dance-club chart (including “Nobody’s Supposed To Be Here”) collaborated with Houston in 2000 to record a duet for her greatest-hits album.

“When I grew up in Toronto, she was iconic to me ... the only black female singer (doing) soul and jazz,” Cox said. “I’ve had to tap into my emotional vulnerability and not think of her songs the way I knew them.”

Cox — who made her Broadway debut in 2004 in the title role of Disney’s “Aida” — aims to balance vulnerability with strength as Rachel, who is taking her son on her concert tour.

“Rachel is a strong, complex woman — fearless and defiant,” Cox said. “You get a sense of her protective side as a mother.”

After its 2012 London premiere (with Heather Headley as Rachel), the musical earned four Olivier Award nominations, including one for best new musical, and toured the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Dinelaris and the creative team continue to tweak and streamline the show on tour, with an eye toward Broadway.

“Beyond Hollywood glamour and glitz, this musical is really about two people who are lonely because they’re so good at what they do,” he said.

Dinelaris also wrote about show business in “Birdman,” the 2014 Oscar winner for best picture and screenplay, and Broadway’s “On Your Feet!” a bio-musical (2015-today) about husband-and-wife Gloria and Emilio Estefan.

“I’m always after the bigger emotional subjects,” Dinelaris said. “Today, people protect themselves with cynicism. We’re afraid of taking the big swings. I like taking them.”

Adapting “The Bodyguard” — with fixed lyrics, a story too well-known to change and two unyielding characters — was like “solving a giant puzzle piece,” he said.

“How do you take two sides you can’t really bend and synthesize them?”